the starter stayed engaged a couple of times. Had to jump out like a madman and disconnect the battery.
WHAT VEHICLE??? WHAT ENGINE???
There's several things that can cause that...and it may depend on what model of starter you have. MOST of the ones I've seen first-hand had a half-dead battery. Apparently, if the battery can't provide enough voltage, the starter sucks-down the amperage, and the high amperage draw welds the copper disc to the copper contacts in the starter solenoid. "Fixing" that requires smacking the starter hard enough for the vibrations to aid the spring on the copper disc to break the weld and pop the disc free again.
In the last month, it's done the same thing a couple more times. Then about an hour ago, I came home from work , shut it off, and got back in about 5 minutes later and it wouldn't crank. No click, no crank. I put it in neutral and let it roll back about a foot and slammed it in park... Turned the key on and it fired right up.
1. Verify that the battery is FULLY charged. Battery should have 12.6--12.7 volts no-load,
after sitting for an hour or two after charging. (Battery may have 13+ volts, right off the charger.)
2. "No click, no crank" is common as dirt; and usually traceable to a corroded wire connected to the "S" terminal of the starter solenoid. The "S" terminal doesn't get enough voltage to engage the solenoid plunger, and having a weak battery makes this even worse. My own '97 had had the final 6--8 inches of wire replaced before I got it; and that wire was corroded again. I ended-up cutting the wire back to the original pink/purple wire, which was corroded. I kept cutting it shorter, and the copper conductor was still black inside the insulation. I cut it back until I barely had room behind the trans bellhousing to splice more wire in place...and the conductor was still corroded/discolored.
I had to open-up the big bundle of engine-compartment wires and splice into that purple (fades to pink over time) wire with about three feet of fresh cable down to the starter solenoid "S" terminal.
The previous "repair' I had to cut back out because it was corroded--again:
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The original wire from the harness back behind and above the trans bellhousing. Even the "good" end wasn't good enough:
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Verifying that I was about to cut the correct wire, measuring continuity from the starter relay to the purple wire above the engine in the big harness bundle:
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Correct purple wire cut, crimped to new wire, then soldered...
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Sealed with heat-shrink tubing that has adhesive inside--"hot-melt glue"--for absolute weather-tight seal:
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From there, it was just a matter of re-taping the harness, routing that wire down to the solenoid, and re-connecting to the "S" terminal using another crimp-on connector and more heat-shrink tubing. I had dreams of using the old section of wire to pull the new section through the harness. Those wires had to be split apart--the insulation of each wire was stuck to the insulation of the wires next to it. The whole bundle was essentially glued-together until I broke 'em apart to dig out the purple wire to cut it. Therefore, the new wire is very unprofessionally routed all by itself behind the engine and down to the starter.
I'd have used a new purple-colored wire if any local stores had purple wire. I keep most colors on hand, but didn't have any purple.
